Though not impressive on its own, that 375 number is inflated by 205 yards after completion in the third game after games of 90 and 80 in the first two games, which were averages of 3.1 yards after completion per completion. And even when they give up the pass, they've shut it down efficiently, allowing 375 yards after completion in the first three games, holding Brady's receivers to a collective 5.1 yards after completion per completion, just over the team's 4.9 average during that span. Their defenders have combined to record 23 passes defended in all four games. Instead, the Saints have just prevented the ball from getting to his receivers.
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Pro Football Reference has his receivers tallying just four drops in the first three games, which would account for only 9.7 percent of his incompletions. There can be little attribution of Brady's passing struggles applied to his receivers. MORE: How Buccaneers' loss to Saints impacts NFC South, wild card Airtight coverageĪnd of course if a quarterback is forcing throws, it never helps when the opposing defense is covering well. He hit his second-worst number in the shutout loss, with 5.6 percent of his passes grading as turnover worthy. In the team's 2021 Week 8 matchup against New Orleans, that number was again a season-high, checking in at 6.8 percent. The season-opener against the Saints was only at 2.2 percent. In the blowout to New Orleans in 2020, 9.1 percent of Brady's pass attempts were turnover-worthy throws, the highest rate in any single game for him in the past two seasons. Pro Football Focus has said that Brady has thrown plenty of passes that deserve to be picked off. These aren't just passes that are being tipped up into interceptions either. Brady won only the matchup against the Cowboys. There have only been four teams during that span to record multiple interceptions against him during the regular season: the Rams in 2020, Chiefs in 2020, Cowboys in 2021 and Washington in 2021. He has been picked off at least once in each of the four contests and has thrown multiple interceptions in three of the four games. Since the start of the 2020 campaign, Brady has thrown eight interceptions against the Saints. Perhaps a byproduct of the pressure faced, Brady has also become turnover prone when he faces New Orleans. And in the shutout loss, they pressured him 15 times, the second-most he's faced during the campaign. Even though during the Saints' 36-27 win in Week 8 of 2021 the Saints only pressured him seven times, they converted the highest rate of pressures to sacks of any team this season at 42.9 percent, according to PFF.
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In the 2020 season-opener, it was 13, tied for the fifth-most during the campaign. In those games, he is a combined 2-2.Īccording to Pro Football Focus, in 2020, in the 38-3 blowout loss in Week 9, the Saints pressured Brady 22 times, the most of any team that season. Only three other teams over the past two seasons have reached him three times in a game, the Bears, Falcons (twice) and Rams. They've sacked him three times in each game, except in the most recent clash, when they got to him four times. Sure, the Saints have played the Buccaneers the most in that timespan, but it's been consistent.
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MORE: Nine craziest stats from Tom Brady's third career shutout loss as Saints stifle Bucs No other team has reached Brady more than four times. No team has even come remotely close to the 13 sacks Brady has sustained against New Orleans, with only the Falcons next up at seven.
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In the past two years when playing the Saints, Brady has been constantly pressured. And while Brady might still be a better passer than most in that situation, he's still far from perfect.Īccording to Pro Football Focus, Brady ranks 15th among qualifying quarterbacks with a passing grade of 53.0, a major step down from his overall passing grade of 89.7 on the year.
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No quarterback likes to operate under pressure.